Malanda, a former youth international for Belgium, was on his way to meet up with his club as they prepared to fly to Cape Town for a winter training camp.

His funeral was held at the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels, Belgium and was attended by a number of team mates including fellow Belgian players and Premier League stars Romelu Lukaku and Christian Benteke.

Funeral: Junior Malanda played 17 times for German side Wolfsburg (Image: Lennart Preiss)

Former teammate Paul-Jose M'Poku paid his respects to Malanda.

He said: "I feel very, very sad but, unfortunately there is one thing in life that we cannot handle, it is death.

"And today, Junior passed away and I think, as a young man, there are many things that we can learn from him and from his death and really I want to send my courage to the family and to all of the friends that were really close to him."